Tag Archives: Oncology

Lab Work and Medication

Today has been a down day. Over the last eight days, I would say three have been down. One, yesterday, was a great high. This is a rollercoaster ride and I’ve never liked coasters.

As I said, yesterday was a high. Early in the morning I had an appointment with the oncologist for post-chemo lab work. They took three vials of blood, which I assume will be the normal amount taken each week. I was taken back to the waiting room and told that the doctor would see me when the results came back.

According to the paperwork, it took the lab about 20 minutes to get the results updated. Impressive!

I was taken back and weighed. I was surprised to see I had lost seven pounds in a week. To some this might be alarming and it was at first to me and then I thought about my week. I had been eating but far smaller portions than normal. In addition, all I had been drinking was water or Gatorade. Those two things were good things. I often eat far too much and have Dr. Pepper constantly running through my veins. The weight loss could easily be explained by making those two changes in my diet. The nurse and doctor thought nothing of the weight loss so I assume all is well.

Now onto discussing the blood work. She started off by saying all these numbers are to be expected by someone who just had chemo. There were two main things they were looking at. My white blood count (WBC) and my ANC.

Prior to chemo my white blood count was a 7. Well within normal limits. On this day, it was a 1.3. I was shocked at how low it was and questioned if the Neulasta shot given the day after chemo had worked. She assured me it had or that number would be a zero. What the white blood count means is that my body can’t fight infection. White blood cells are what fight the nasty germs and mine were nearly depleted.

My Complete Blood Count

The next value she looked at was the ANC. I am not sure what my value was prior or chemo, but these results showed a value of 200. this puts me at a “High risk of infection”. If it falls below a 100 you are in the “Extremely high risk” category. At least I wasn’t at the bottom!

The doctor explained to me that we needed to watch closely for signs of infection. I inquired about fever being an indicator and was again shocked to find out fever would not be a good indicator for me. My counts being so low, my body would not have the white blood cells needed to even produce a fever. By the time I got a fever it would be a very severe infection. I had absolutely no idea that could happen.

I was slightly bummed by the results. I didn’t feel bad but my blood work showed I was definitely not at the top of my game. I was planning to have lunch with a friend and my soul needed that visit. I told the doctor that I was upset because I would need to cancel my lunch date and she said, no you don’t. What?!? I can go? She then explained that while I am high risk, if I am smart and assume no person or surface is clean, clean it myself, I would be okay to live life. She told me that the lunch was important for my emotional well-being. She asked where I planned to go and I told her to a little sandwich place and we planned to eat on the patio. She said go and have a great time. Yes,ma’am. No arguments here.

That lunch is one of the main reasons my day was a high. Sitting on a patio in 70 degree Texas sunshine enjoying a meal with a very dear friend is exactly what I needed. We talked about life, not just cancer. Sure there was talk about that but we got it out of the way first and then moved on to our kids and solving as many world problems as we could in our 90 minutes together.

The rest of the night went okay. I have been battling headaches off and on for a few days and ended the night, as I had the three previous, with a pretty nasty headache. I went to bed medicated and had an up and down night with not feeling well and Eli having trouble sleeping as well.

This is when it started to go down. We had an early morning wake up call. Our house was going to be cleaned (For Free! Blog coming on that soon!) and we needed to not be here while they did their thing. We loaded up to head to another dear friend’s house to spend the morning. We had to get there in time for Isaac to jump on his first school class around 8. The first part of the morning went well, but around 10 I started feeling very run down, weak, and all over yuck. Thankfully, our house was done by 11 so we headed home.

I got concerned about the way I was feeling along with finding a swollen lymph node under my left arm so I called the doctor. The swollen nodes on my good side (non-cancer side) really scared me. As you might imagine, my thoughts went to the cancer having spread. I knew I would worry so I wasted no time calling. They promptly returned my call and eased my concerns about the new symptoms. She said the lymph system can have this type of reaction during chemo treatment. She then said that based on my lab results the day prior it would be wise to go ahead and start me on antibiotics. we talked about the headaches again and the nurse believes that it may be due to dehydration.

This afternoon I began taking a strong antibiotic called Levaquin. The pharmacist informed me to not do strenuous exercise while on this medicine because it can cause tendons to rupture. Again, what? Noted. And I promise there will be no strenuous exercise happening. My plan for the next few days is to take my antibiotics, drink plenty of fluids, and rest.

I tried to do this my way. I tried to say, I’m fine. I feel fine. I’ve got this, but yesterday and today have shown me that I am not in control. My body is. More importantly, my God is. I need to listen to Him as well as my medicinal providers and allow myself time to not be okay.

The prayer is that my WBC can double by Tuesday so that I can receive my second dose of chemo. That magic number needs to be at least a 3.5. We don’t want any delays in getting this over with!

Am I Old or Not?

Before I get to explaining the title of this post I will provide you with an update. I am five days post-chemo and for the most part holding up well. I have had fatigue and in the last few days some nausea has set in. I have lost some taste, which is for sure a bummer when it comes time to eat. Things I love no longer taste good such as my beloved Dr. Pepper or Whataburger. I don’t need those things anyway, so maybe it is a blessing. I pray this is how each infusion will go, but I am fully prepared for the symptoms to increase as I continue to receive treatments. This is my off week of chemo. I will go on Tuesday to have blood work done to make sure everything looks good and then next Tuesday will receive cycle two of four of the AC chemo.

Now to the title of the post. This will require some back story, but it is something that has brought a laugh to me over the last few weeks.

Eli, who will be two in December, was a complete and total unexpected blessing to our family. When I became pregnant I was a young 34 years old. At my first appointment with the OB she informed me that since I would turn 35 while pregnant that I became a bit higher risk. In the state of Texas, a “geriatric pregnancy” is defined as anyone pregnant over the age of 35. I remember thinking, man, I thought I was in prime child bearing years at 35. Who knew that made me high risk. Throughout my pregnancy my age was talked about on numerous occasions. They continued to use the term geriatric, which absolutely cracked me up. The pregnancy was fairly routine. I did end up having gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. All this combined with my “old” age meant I would be induced and have our beautiful baby boy at 37 weeks. No complaints from me as that meant three less weeks pregnant and it put him coming in just under the wire to be able to claim him on our 2018 taxes.

Fast forward to today. I was diagnosed with invasive ducal carcinoma breast cancer roughly a week after I turned 37. From the very first visit with the surgeon to the visits with all the other physicians who would treat me, my age was again a factor. This time for the opposite reason. You are so young. It is not common for someone under 40 with no real family history to get breast cancer. Actually, the median age of a woman diagnosed with breast cancer in America is around 62 with most diagnosis being those age 55-64. So I am a good 20 years too young for breast cancer. This just proves that cancer does not discriminate or follow any rules. We know that my genetics are not the cause of my cancer, but we may never know what did cause it.

You often hear that God works in mysterious ways and His plan is perfect. I truly believe this. At the time we laughed at the thought of “starting over” with a new baby. We had a junior in high school, a third grader, and a newborn. Who does that? Now, two years later, I know exactly why Eli came along. I feel God put him in our lives for three specific reasons.

First, simply, our family was not complete. God knew we needed the little firecracker to keep things exciting! Both of his brothers adore him so much and the feeling is mutual. His best friends are his big brothers. his dad and I are pretty fond of the little dude as well. He brings so much joy to our home.

Second, I do not believe I would have found the cancer had he not been born. I breastfed Eli for roughly 9 months. I would like to say i am fairly in tune with my body. When I stopped breastfeeding I noticed that things on my right breast felt different. I don’t know how to describe it, it was just not normal. I brushed it aside thinking it was my body trying to dry my milk up and that the harder spot was a clogged milk duct or something. When that lump began to become larger and more uncomfortable I questioned if it was related to breastfeeding or something else. I still put off talking to my doctor for longer than I should. Hindsight is always 20/20. I have learned that tumors like mine take years to be able to be felt by hand. This mass could have been there while pregnant and while breastfeeding. I have no idea if feeding Eli caused it to grow faster or if it just made me more aware of what was going on in my body, but thanks to breastfeeding this beautiful baby boy, I found the lump. It was still nearly a year later before I brought it to the attention of my physician, because, again, I was making excuses for what it was. I mean, I was too young to have breast cancer, right? When a few other things had been ruled out, I knew it was time to speak up. So glad I did!

And third, God put Eli in our lives to get us through this fight. Not that my other two boys aren’t worth fighting for, they absolutely are, but having another kid, especially one so young, makes you want to fight harder. I want to see all my kids graduate high school, start college, get married, and have their own kids. To do that I need a good 20 more years in my own life. God gave us Eli, so full of energy, to help fight the fatigue that chemo would bring. It is hard to sit idle when you have a 22-month old terrorizing the house. It is hard to be sad and down on yourself when you have an innocent little guy giving you “cheesy grins”.

Look at the cheesy grin!

While one speciality might think I’m too old for babies and another that I’m too young for cancer, I know that God has a perfect plan for my life and I trust Him. The path may not always be clear and straight. There will be detours and obstacles, but we must trust in our Lord to get us to the end of the race.

I Raise a Hallelujah

This has been such a busy week. Many waiting rooms, exam rooms, and tests. I want to do a separate post with details about the test, but I will explain what my week has looked liked this far.

Monday was Labor Day. Jordan came home from college to spend the long weekend with us and it was so good for my mommy heart to have all three of my babies under one roof again. I know it’s only been a month since we moved him into school, but it feels like much longer! The weather was nice on Sunday so we made a trip to the park. This was Eli’s first real trip to a playground. Before COVID hit he wasn’t walking and a playground would have been no fun for him. In March all the parks closed and are slowly starting to reopen. This weekend provided our first real chance to go! All three boys had a blast. Jordan and Isaac showed Eli all the cool things!

Tuesday was just spent doing things around the house and helping Isaac with online schooling. He will be doing virtual while I’m undergoing treatment. Not specifically because of COVID, but germs in general. I am thankful that this year provided that option for us.

Wednesday and today had enough appointments to fill a week. Yesterday starting bright and early I went to another Texas Oncology location for my CT scan. This was to check the chest, abdomen, and pelvis for spread. After that appointment, we ate a quick breakfast (I had been fasting for the test) and came home to meet with a dear friend who would watch Eli while we went to my next set of appointments. We went to my “normal” oncology office were had three more appointments. One for an echocardiogram of the heart. The next with a financial counselor about the cost of my upcoming surgery, and the third for training on what to expect with surgery and after. Thankfully, that was it for Wednesday. This entire process from leaving early that morning to getting back home took about five hours. Not horrible, but still mentally exhausting.

This morning started much the same way. I had to go to our local hospital for a bone scan to check for any “mets” or signs that cancer had metastasized into my bones. This was a two-part process that I will go into later, but from check in to home for this scan took about five hours as well. Thankfully, not all spent at the hospital!

Because my medical team is top-notch, we already have gotten the results of everything back. All the scans are NEGATIVE! This mean monster has not spread! These results are the difference between being able to cure this cancer and only being able to treat it. We WILL cure this!

After hanging up from talking to Dr. B I was, of course, relieved. It’s the first really encouraging news we’ve heard since diagnosis. This road won’t be easy, but there is a light at the end. We can and will fight towards a complete cure!

As most know, my family is strong in our faith. Immediately after hanging up a song popped in my head and I wanted to share that song with you. In the video below, the writer explains where the song came from. The lyrics are an anthem for all of us!

“I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm. Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar. Up through the ashes, hope will arise. Death is defeated, the King is ALIVE!